LOCATION INFORMATION OF OOTY
Couched amidst those gorgeous blue mountains of southern India, there is something special about the erstwhile British township of Ooty. Year after year, it draws tourists, adventure enthusiasts, honeymooners and the film industry like bees to nectar.
Sure, many wise travelers believe that Ooty is a dumpyard, a degraded, over-rated hill station, and so on. Nevertheless, the wiser one will see how Ooty can soothe strung-up nerves and become the backdrop for a wondrous holiday.
Tourism in Ooty, Although signboards all around scream and beg to make people call this 36-sq-km hill resort Udhagamandalam, their pleas obviously fell on deaf ears. Ooty will always be Ooty to everyone. As the blaze of the afternoon sun gives way to a nippy evening, one can make his way towards the nearby lake.
This part of Ooty was once a huge bog with a west-flowing stream. In 1824, the lower part of the stream was converted into a lake.
Though
the lake seems ordinary enough, what really gets the tourists all excited is the warmth and buzz of activity in the vicinity.
There is a boathouse where rowboats and motorboats can be had on hire. A Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation venture, it remains open from 8 AM to 6 PM. Sitting at the edge of the lake and watching the sun dipping down to herald darkness, is a soothing experience, to put it lightly.
The beautiful Botanical Gardens are, in a word, Ooty's milestone. Reaching the sprawling maze of greens and blooms, up northeast of the township, one's first thought is of the incredible influence of British rule in India.
And these images, reminiscent of the Raj, were all over Ooty. Not surprising, considering that the hill resort as we know it now was founded by the British, in the early 1800s, to serve as the Madras Government's summer headquarters.
The Botanical Gardens of Ooty, established in 1847, are much like the typical, manicured and planned gardens one sees so often. But the real beauty of the place is its plants-an amazingly diverse array with trees, shrubs and herbs of a mindboggling number of species.
And the flowers were really
something to write home about. Was it the altitude-Ooty nestles at 2240 m above sea level-and the rarefied air, or the lack of polluted air that gave these flowers an added shine and gloss?
They smiled from everywhere as one ambles about the lovely, spread-out profusion. The fossil tree trunk that one sees here is believed to be 20 million years old!
The great charm of Tourism in Ooty is not so much the specific tourist destination; it is, in fact, the long lovely walks that it offers. Anywhere you go, the serenity of the Nilgiris will be all around you.
Specially the strategic points from where one could either see Ooty or the view all around, like Snowdon, Ketty Valley, the Wenlock Downs and, of course, Doddabetta. Further, one could hire a horse either near the boathouse or at the Savoy-for a slightly more exhilarating excursion in and around town.
Tourism in Ooty
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